Murder of Skylar Neese

Skylar Annette Neese (February 10, 1996 – July 6, 2012) was an American teenage girl who disappeared from her home in Star City, West Virginia around midnight on July 6, 2012.[1] Neese's remains were found on January 16, 2013, in Wayne Township, Greene County, Pennsylvania.[2]

Neese was murdered by two of her high school friends, Shelia Eddy and Rachel Shoaf. In December 2012, Shoaf told authorities that she and Eddy planned and carried out Neese's murder. Shoaf pleaded guilty to second-degree murder on May 1, 2013, and was sentenced to 30 years in prison with eligibility for parole after 10 years.[3] Eddy pleaded guilty to first-degree murder on January 24, 2014, and was sentenced to life in prison with eligibility for parole after 15 years. Neese's disappearance led to new West Virginia legislation that made changes to the AMBER Alert missing child alert system.[4]

Background information

Victim
Skylar Neese
Skylar Neese
Born
Skylar Annette Neese

(1996-02-10)February 10, 1996
Morgantown, West Virginia, United States
DiedJuly 6, 2012(2012-07-06) (aged 16)
Wayne Township, Greene County, Pennsylvania, United States
Cause of deathHomicide by stabbing by Shelia Eddy and Rachel Shoaf
Height5 ft 4 in (1.63 m)[5]
Parent(s)Dave Neese and Mary Neese

Skylar Annette Neese (born February 10, 1996) was the only child of Mary and Dave Neese. At that time Mary Neese worked as an administrative assistant in a cardiac lab and Dave Neese was a product assembler at Walmart. Skylar was a student at University High School who wanted to become a criminal lawyer. She worked at Wendy's with two close friends.

Perpetrators

Shelia Rae Eddy (born September 28, 1995) is the only child of Tara Clendenen and Greg Eddy. Shelia was born in Blacksville, West Virginia.

Rachel Shoaf (born June 10, 1996) grew up in Morgantown. She is the only daughter of Rusty and Patricia Shoaf.

Both perpetrators attended University High School along with their victim.[6]

Disappearance

On July 5, 2012, Neese returned to her family's Star City, West Virginia apartment after working a shift at Wendy's. Her apartment complex's surveillance video shows Neese left the apartment via her bedroom window at 12:30 a.m. on July 6 and got into a sedan.[1] Neese's father said she did not take her cell phone charger, her window was left open, and that she planned on coming home.[7]

Murder

On the night of the murder, Shelia Eddy and Rachel Shoaf had invited Neese to sneak out with them. Neese, who had recently fallen out with the two, was initially hesitant. After a series of phone calls and texts from the girls, Neese changed her mind.

At approximately 12:30 a.m., Neese climbed out of her bedroom window, crossed the street and got into the back seat of a four-door sedan. Law enforcement officers later determined that the sedan had been in the possession of Shelia Eddy that evening. The three girls then headed northwest from Star City toward Blacksville via U.S. Route 19. The perpetrators had planned to travel along W.V. Route 7, but turned around after spotting a state police car parked in front of a gambling lounge.

They eventually arrived at their destination just across the Pennsylvania state border, a spot where all three of the girls would occasionally smoke marijuana. Shoaf and Eddy had been planning Neese's murder for months. They left Eddy's house prepared to carry out the assault on Neese, bringing with them kitchen knives, paper towels, bleach, cleaning cloths, clean clothes, and a shovel. They concealed the knives on their persons, and hid the remaining items in the trunk of Eddy's vehicle.

Once the girls were out of the vehicle, the perpetrators told Neese they had forgotten to bring a lighter. Neese volunteered to go back to the vehicle to fetch her own lighter. Once Neese had turned her back, Shoaf and Eddy began counting to three—their agreed-upon signal. Upon giving the signal, Shoaf and Eddy began to stab Neese. The victim attempted to run, but was only able to run a few feet before Shoaf tackled her to the ground and continued the assault. During the attack, Neese managed to wrestle Shoaf's knife from her and, in an apparent attempt to defend herself, cut Shoaf's knee. Eddy continued to stab Neese until there was complete silence and, according to Shoaf, "Neese's neck stopped making gurgling sounds." Neese's postmortem examination revealed more than 50 stab wounds.

Afterwards Shoaf and Eddy attempted to bury the body, first dragging Neese to the side of the road which would not work because the road ran along a creek and the soil there was too hard and rocky to dig a hole, which had been their original plan. They instead covered Skylar's body with rocks, fallen branches, and dirt. Shoaf and Eddy then returned to the car to clean themselves and the murder scene. Upon completing the murder and cleaning up, Shoaf and Eddy left the scene, disposed of their blood-soaked clothing and returned to their homes.

Investigation

Neese was initially considered to be a runaway by law enforcement authorities, and an Amber Alert was not immediately issued in connection with her disappearance.[4] An early tip indicated that Neese had been seen in North Carolina, but the Star City Police Department determined that the person spotted was not Neese.[8] Neese's parents posted flyers about their missing daughter in the Monongalia County region.[9] Police determined that the unknown sedan in which Skylar Neese was last seen belonged to Eddy and interviewed her. Eddy admitted to picking up Neese but stated that she had dropped her off an hour later.[10] The FBI and the West Virginia State Police joined the search for Skylar Neese on September 10, 2012, and began interviewing Neese's school friends.[10]

The break in the case came when Rachel Shoaf admitted plotting with Shelia Eddy to kill Neese.[11][12][13] The motivation Shoaf gave for the murder was they "didn't like her" and "didn't want to be friends with her anymore".[14][15][16] Dave Neese stated that these two girls were among his daughter's best friends,[17] and that Shelia Eddy had even helped the family look for her by distributing missing person flyers.[18][19] After her confession, Rachel Shoaf led investigators to Neese's body.[12] On March 13, 2013, U.S. Attorney William J. Ihlenfeld, II issued a press release[20] stating that a body found in Wayne Township, Greene County, Pennsylvania[21][22][23] on January 16, 2013 had been identified as the remains of Neese. Neese's remains were found less than 30 miles (48 km) away from her home.[2]

Criminal charges

On May 1, 2013, Rachel Shoaf pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.[3][24] According to the court transcript, Shoaf said that she and Shelia Eddy picked up Neese in Eddy's car. The girls drove to Pennsylvania, got out of the car, and began socializing. At a pre-arranged time, Shoaf and Eddy stabbed Skylar to death on the count of three.[25] The teens attempted to bury Neese's body, but were unable to do so and instead covered the body with branches. The court transcript indicates that other students overheard conversations between Shoaf and Eddy about the murder plot, but failed to report it, thinking they were joking.[3] According to Shoaf's plea agreement,[26] she pleaded guilty to murder in the second degree by "unlawfully, feloniously, willfully, maliciously and intentionally causing the death of Skylar Neese by stabbing her and causing fatal injuries". In the plea agreement, the State of West Virginia recommended a sentence of 40 years incarceration.[24][26] Shoaf's family issued a public apology for her actions through their lawyer.[27]

On September 4, 2013, West Virginia prosecutors publicly identified Shelia Eddy as the second alleged perpetrator of the murder of Skylar Neese and announced that she would be tried as an adult.[28] Eddy was indicted by a grand jury on September 6, 2013 with one count of kidnapping, one count of first-degree murder, and one count of conspiracy to commit murder.[29] Shelia Eddy pleaded not guilty to these charges.[30]

The date of the trial was originally set for January 28, 2014.[31] However, facing the prospect of charges from Pennsylvania authorities in addition to the West Virginia charges, Shelia Eddy pleaded guilty to first-degree murder. She expressed no remorse, but was sentenced to life in prison "with mercy"; under West Virginia law, she is eligible for parole after 15 years.[32] Pennsylvania authorities did not file charges as per the plea deal.[33]

Following her guilty plea on May 1, 2013, Rachel Shoaf received a sentence of 30 years in prison, and will be eligible for parole after 10 years.[34][35]

Eddy originally was held in a facility for juveniles after her arrest.[36] Both women are incarcerated at the Lakin Correctional Center in Mason County.[37]

Skylar's Law

An Amber Alert was not issued in Neese's disappearance because the circumstances did not meet all four criteria for an alert to be issued: (1) a child is believed to be abducted; (2) the child is under 18; (3) the child may be in danger of death or serious injury; (4) there is sufficient information to indicate the Amber Alert would be helpful.[38] A waiting period of 48 hours had to elapse before a teenager could be considered missing.[39] A West Virginia state legislator from the Neese family home district introduced a bill[40] called Skylar's Law to modify West Virginia's Amber Alert plan to issue immediate public announcements when any child is reported missing and in danger, regardless of whether the child is believed to have been kidnapped.[2][41] Opinion columns appeared in both West Virginia and national media in support of Skylar's Law,[42][43] some of which also acknowledged criticism and drawbacks of the legislation.[42] On March 27, 2013, the West Virginia House of Delegates approved Skylar's Law with a 98-0 vote.[4] On April 12, 2013, the West Virginia Senate unanimously passed the law, but made minor technical changes to the bill which the House of Delegates voted to accept on the same day.[44][45] West Virginia Governor Earl Ray Tomblin signed the legislation into law in May 2013.[7]

National media attention

On May 31, 2013, Anderson Cooper covered the story of Skylar Neese's murder. On March 7, 2014, Dateline NBC aired an episode titled "Something Wicked" which chronicled the story of Skylar Neese's murder. On March 10, 2014, the Dr. Phil show covered Skylar's story: Best Friends Betrayal. Her parents Dave and Mary were both present, as were two women who described themselves as "second mothers" to Rachel Shoaf. On April 12, 2014, Lifetime aired Death Clique, a fictional drama inspired by the story of Skylar Neese's murder.

On July 18, 2014, ABC's 20/20 covered Skylar's story in the episode called "Unfriended".[46] On October 22, 2014, LMN's show I Killed My BFF covered Skylar's story using parent and friend commentaries in an episode titled "Real Life Heathers".[47] On November 14, 2014, Investigation Discovery's show See No Evil covered Skylar's story in an episode titled "Skylar Neese". The show uses the real-life surveillance video of Skylar to piece together the last few hours of her life. First person interviews with her family, friends, and the investigators are used, along with limited dramatic recreation.[48]

On March 26, 2016, ReelzChannel show Copycat Killers covered Skylar's story in an episode titled "Heathers". On August 7, 2016, Oxygen Channel showed Skylar's story on Snapped. On October 28, 2016, Investigation Discovery showed Skylar's story on an episode of Suspicion titled "A Daughter Disappears." On July 20, 2018, NBC showed Skylar's story on Dateline NBC season 26 episode 58 titled "Something Wicked". On May 12, 2019, The Generation Why Podcast told and reviewed Skylar’s story on episode 327 titled "Skylar Neese".

See also

References
  1. Rippin, Kelly (August 2, 2012). "Father of Star City Teen Begs for Return Home". WBOY News. Retrieved May 31, 2013.
  2. "Skylar Neese Death: Body Found in Pennsylvania is Missing West Virginia Teen, Federal Officials Say". Crimesider. CBS News. March 14, 2013. Retrieved May 31, 2013.
  3. Freda, Kim (May 16, 2013). "Court Transcript: Shoaf and Co-conspirator Planned Skylar Neese's Murcer". WBOY news. Retrieved May 31, 2013.
  4. Johnson, Shauna (March 27, 2013). "House Approves Skylar's Law". West Virginia MetroNews. Retrieved May 31, 2013.
  5. (July 6, 2012)https://www.pinterest.com/pin/127789708147874799/#:~:text=Skylar%20Earl%2DNeese%20Missing%20Since,Color%3A%20Blue%20Weight%3A%20135%20lbs www.pinterest.com › pin
  6. "WV MetroNews – Teen killer Shelia Eddy admits guilt". wvmetronews.com. January 24, 2014.
  7. "Target 11 Investigates How Authorities Handle Missing Persons". WPXI News. May 21, 2013. Archived from the original on March 5, 2016. Retrieved May 31, 2013.
  8. "Update: Star City Police Continue Looking for Missing Girl". WBOY News. July 23, 2012. Retrieved May 31, 2013.
  9. "High School Horror in Mon County: Star City Transfixed by Teen Girls' Murder Plot". Saturday Gazette-Mail. The Associated Press. May 25, 2013. Retrieved May 31, 2013.
  10. Lohr, David (September 10, 2012). "Skylar Neese's Family Fears for Her Safety". Huffington Post. Retrieved May 31, 2013.
  11. "W. Va. teen allegedly killed by "friends"". CBS News. Retrieved January 26, 2019.
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  14. Deutsch, Gail; Valiente, Alexa (July 16, 2014). "From Best Friends to Killers: Teens Murder Friend Because They 'Didn't Like Her'". ABC News.
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  16. Millea, Holly (September 17, 2014). "Trial by Twitter". Elle.
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  27. The Shoaf Family; Angoiti and Straface L.C. (2013). "Statement" (PDF) (Press release). Archived from the original (PDF) on May 12, 2013. Retrieved May 31, 2013.
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  29. Kinsell, Tara (September 10, 2013). "Making the case for jurisdiction". Observer-Reporter. Retrieved September 10, 2013.
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Further reading
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